Henry Nkya :
I'm thinking out loud: Saudi Arabia is a relatively small country compared to the entire African continent. Yet why do African universities attract so few international students? Even those studying African languages or African cultures often do so at universities in their own countries, relying on research conducted in Africa rather than coming here to study.
Since the 1960s, generations of African scholars have studied at leading universities in Europe, the United States, China, Russia, and across Asia. We have also seen how Chinese students who studied in the U.S. contributed to China's transformation. We have seen South Koreans who studied in the U.S., Europe, and Japan return home and help make their country a global leader in electronics, engineering, innovation, and medical advancement.
So the question is: why did people attend many of the same universities during the same period, yet achieve such different outcomes? At what point do we stop blaming other nations and start confronting our own challenges, including poor governance, weak institutions, and self-serving leadership? That conversation is long overdue.
2026-07-22 09:06:43